LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) 鈥� Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday she wants to impose work requirements on some Medicaid recipients, hoping to revive and expand a restriction that was but could get a new life under the Trump administration.
Sanders' comments come as fellow Republicans in several other states are seeking similar requirements along with other cuts or restrictions to Medicaid, which covers about 80 million people nationally.
More than 18,000 people lost coverage when Arkansas previously under Sanders' predecessor, Asa Hutchinson, in 2018. The requirement, which only applied to able-bodied adults on the state's expansion program, was blocked by federal courts and the .
Sanders said she wants a broader requirement that would cover able-bodied adults on traditional Medicaid, as well as on the expansion.
鈥淚 have more confidence because it's a new administration that I think will be more supportive of things like work requirements,鈥� Sanders told reporters. 鈥淭hey've already publicly stated that, and I think a greater willingness to work with states to make changes.鈥�
Sanders is among a growing number of Republican governors who say they are planning on seeking similar requirements for the program. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds this week said she will seek a similar mandate for able-bodied Medicaid recipients, and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster has asked the state鈥檚 health agency to request its work requirement be reinstated as soon as Trump takes office.
Another round of states imposing work requirements would likely spark a new round of litigation over the restriction. The renewed push for requirements comes as advocacy groups are worried about Republicans in Congress seeking broader cuts to the Medicaid program.
Republicans in Washington have long for program, and a provision passed by the House in 2023 would have left more than half a million of the poorest Americans without health insurance.
Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, said work requirements are counterproductive by creating a new obstacle for low-income adults.
鈥淲hen people are able to address their health conditions, they're more likely to be able to work,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 think the policy gets it backwards while supporting a goal that most Americans support.鈥�
The currently with a work requirement for some Medicaid recipients is Georgia. said he wants to let parents and guardians of kids up to age 6 in households at or below 100% of the federal poverty level enroll in Medicaid without meeting the requirement.
Republicans are seeking cuts in other states such as Idaho, where some GOP lawmakers want to repeal the state's expansion.
Kansas鈥� Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly is heading in the other direction, calling this week on the GOP-dominated Legislature to expand Medicaid. But Republican leaders are likely to block it.
Sanders, meanwhile, said she wants to keep Arkansas' Medicaid expansion in some form. Arkansas was one of a few Southern states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, and more than 200,000 people are on the program.
鈥淚 don't think we're in a place where you can at this point do away with the expansion,鈥� Sanders said. 鈥淲e're too far down the road."
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Associated Press writers Charlotte Kramon, Hannah Fingerhut, John Hanna and Jeffrey Collins contributed to this report
Andrew Demillo, The Associated Press
